Hydraulic gear shifting and driving system



Oct. 17, 1944. c. E. LINDEN ETAL 2,360,695

HYDRAULIC GEAR SHIFTING AND DRIVING' SYSTEM Original Filed Oct. 14, 19403v Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 17, 1944. Q E. LlNDEN ETAL 2,360,695

HYDRAULIC GEAR SHIFTING AND DRIVINGy SYSTEM Original Filed Oct. 14, 19403 Sheets-'Sheet 2 0t.17,1944. CA E LINDEN ETAL 2,360,695

HYDRAULIC GEAR SHIFTING AND DRIVING SYSTEM originalFiled Oct. 14, 1 940s sheets-sheet 3 1N VENT OR.

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Patented Oct. 17, 1944 HYDRAULIC GEAR SHIFTING AND DRIVING- SYSTEM CarlE. Linden, Norwood, and Raymond H. McClellan, Hamilton, Ohio, assignorsto The Fosdick Machine Tool Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation ofOhio Original application October 14, 1940, Serial No.

361,044, now Patent No. 2,339,604, dated January 18, 1944. Divided andthis application June 15, 1943, Serial No. 490,892

7 Claims. (Cl. 137-144) This invention relates to multi-port valves forselectively vdirecting fluid under pressure from a source to anypredetermined number of pressure actuated devices. The presentapplication is a division of our copending application Serial No.361,044, led October 14, 1940, and now issued as United States PatentNo. 2,339,604, granted January 18, 1944, entitled Hydraulic gearshifting and driving system, and the invention is `disclosed, by way ofillustration, in the environment of a radial drill, the multi-port valvebeing employed by selectively controlling admission of hydraulic uid togear shifting motors through vwhich the speed and feed of the drillspindle are? adjusted.

In a machine of thissort, it is desirable to provide a plurality of taplead feeds at which thespindle is driven and advanced at predeterminedrates for tapping purposes. The spindle is operated mechanically throughshiftable gears in 20 a transmission and the various speeds and feedsare controlled through fluid shifting of the gears of the transmission.There are many shifting changes to be made, at least one, for instance,for each tap lead feed. Because of the multiplicity of movements whichare required for such shifting,

. the valve selectively directing uid Ato the substantial number ofshifting motors, is apt to become a large and bulky unit occupying toomuch space on the machine if it is built along the usual lines.

To avoid the difficulties attending the use and installation of suchequipment on the machine, the principal objective .of the presentinvention has been to provide a multi-port valve which is small andcompact, yet capable of servicing va large number of hydraulic motorunits. Such valves are useful not only upon radial drills, as shownherein, but on a variety of machine tools and other devices where aplurality of units are individually operated or controlled.

According to the present invention, briey, this rsult is accomplishedthrough a valve consisting I of at least two ported elements arrangedwithin a casing and movable in predetermined relationship to oneanother. In a radial drill having tap lead feeds, one of these elementscontrols motors f which effect major changes in the speed and feed whilethe other controls motors which effect minor speed or feed changeswithin the range established by the first. These ported elements move inunis'on yf or operation from a common point but one of them is indexedor advanced through a portion 'of a revolution only each time the otheris 4 moved through a complete revolution or cycle.

Therefore, the one element repeats its positions as the other is indexedfor effecting minor shifting variations in the major ranges governed bythe iirst. In a typical machine arranged, for example, to provide speedsfrom 15 to 1000 R. P. M. major shifting is changed in steps of. say, 150to 200 R. P. M. while the other element of the valve controls motorswhich provide for 'minor'speed changes of, say, 5 to 15 R. P. M. in

each of the major steps.

Other features ofthe invention and further details of it are disclosedin the accompanying drawings in which a preferred embodiment of theimprovement is disclosed and, from the foregoing description of theprinciple of the invention, and the following detailed description, thevarious modications whichA will present themselves to those skilled inthe art readily will be appreciated.

In the drawings: 1

Figure 1 isa cross sectional elevation of the multiport valve of thepresent invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2--2 of Figure 1illustrating in detailv the indexing and operating means for moving oneof the valve elements to eight diierent positions during each singlerevolution of the other valve element.

' Figure 3 is a fragmentary face view of the speed indicator.

Figure 10 is a diagrammatic view of a typical hydraulic circuit in whichthe multi-port valve of the present invention is employedwith variousvalve elements and operating means in a radial drill.

The selector valve shown generally in Figure 1 consists of a casing 2and rotatable elements indicated generally at 3 and 4 which are disposedwithin the casing 2 in end to end abutment on the same axis. A selectorcrank 5 (Figure 10) is pinned to the lower end of arod 8. The upper endof the rod carries a bevel gear 1 which meshes with a bevel gear 8 onthe axis of the valve elements 3 andfl. A second -bevel gear 9 is alsopinned to the shaft 6 and meshes with a bevel ring-gear l0 which is xedat the end of a shaft Il carrying an indicator dial t2. The gears 9 55and Il are disposed within a casing I3 while the The gear 8 which drivesthe valve elements 3' and 4, is in splined connection with a shaft I1extending through the valve elements 2 and 3 and ,supported therein.Gear 8 is rotatable in a bearing sleeve I8. It will be seen thereforethat as the crank 5 is rotated the dial I2 carries its graduations pastthe reference mark I6 and at the same time the valve element 4 isrotated.

Adjacent the outer endwise portion of the valve element 4 a gear I9 isfixed on the shaft I1 and rotates within an end cap 20 of the casing.This gear meshes with another gear 2l that is carried on a jack shaft 22which is journalled in brackets 23-23 ,and extends along the casing. Theother end of the shaft 22 carries a driving arm 24 of a Geneva gearmechanism. At the end of this arm a roller 25 is provided tosuccesslvely engage the notches 26 of a Geneva gear element 21. TheGeneva gear is formed at the outer end of a sleeve 28 which is extendedinto a bore in the valve element 3 and is in splined connectiontherewith. The casing at this end of the unit is provided with an endplate 29 which is bored to form a bearing for the sleeve 2 8. A collar30 is pinned to the end of the shaft I1 to hold the Geneva gear inplace.

Both the gear I9 at the one end andthe Geneva gear 21 at the other endof the valve unit are provided with indexing or detent plates 3|. Theseare similar to one another and eachincludes arcuate notches 32 in itsperipheries, one for each notch oi' the Geneva gear. A detent roller 33is axially mounted on an intermediate portion of an arm 34 which is'pivoted on a pin 35 extending from a lugl in the respective end plate29 or 20. The outer end of each arm 34 is pulled downwardly by means ofa tension spring 36, held at its one end on a pin 31 at the outer end ofthe arm and at its other end on a pin 38 extending from a lug 39provided at the casing end plate.

In the structure just described, it will be seen that each revolution ofthe shaft I1 drives valve element 4 through a complete revolution and,

through the gears I9 and 2|, drives the shaft 22 through a completerevolution bt thereby indeXes the Geneva gear just one position andmoves the valve element 3 through only a part of a revolution, that is,for example, one-eighth of a complete turn in the system disclosed.Therefore the valve element 4 makes eight complete turns each time thevalve element 3 makes one complete turn, enabling the latter valveelement to be employed for controlling the major shifting steps and thevalve element 4, which repeats its positions, to be employed forrepetitively effecting minor speed changes in each major speed change.

The casing is provided with a distribution channel 40 which extendsalong valve elements 3 and 4. From this channel fluid is distributed tothe valve elements through the six inlet ports 4l.

'I'hese ports communicate with circumferential grooves 42 which arespaced substantially equally along the respective valve elements 3 and4. Additional circumferential grooves 43, constituting exhaust or outletgrooves are arranged on the valve elements intermediate the inletgrooves 42 and each of the exhaust grooves @3 is in constantcommunication with the fluid system sump 44 through the leads 45, asshown in Fig-l ure 10.

The grooves 42 and 43 include dead-ended ex tensions 46 extendinglongitudinally of the valve elements, with the ends of these groovesbeing arranged to selectively cooperate with various fluid pressureoutlet ports 41 provided in the casing (Figure 5). For each operativeposition of valve element 3 or valve element 4, as set throughmanipulation of crank: 5, an exhaust groove 43 of one valve or the otheris aligned with an outlet 41 of which there six sets of two each showniny the drawings for servicing six motors. 'I'hrough this arrangementthe opposite ends of respective gear shifting motors may be charged orexhausted alternately. The valve casing includes feet 48 through whichit may be mounted on the machine, and also includes an inlet 49 leadingto the distribution passage.

In the embodiment disclosed, provisions are available for accommodatingsixty-four speed changes of which thirty-six are actually accomplishedthrough shifting of the six motors serviced rom the six sets of outlets41. If desirable, the apparatus may be constructed to accommodate a.greater or lesser number of changes by a different Geneva gearing ratioor by providing .additional valve elements corresponding in function andrelationship to the valve elements 3 and 4. That is, one valve elementmay be arranged to perform major changes in speed; a second valveelement operated in conjunction with the rst through a Geneva mechanismmay function to repeat secondary variations within the'ranges controlledby the first, and a third valve element driven in unison through asecond Geneva mechanism may be employed to effect minor or incrementalvariations in the secondary ranges controlled by the second element. Inthis manner a myriad of devices may be selectively controlled through avalve which is small and compact.

The circuit shown diagrammatically in Figure 10 is a representativecircuit of the type in which the selector valve of the present inventionis adapted to be employed. The circuit disclosed is particularly usefulin a radial drill which has provisions for feeding the spindlehydraulically at high speeds and also for feeding the spindlemechanically ata plurality of tap lead feed rates. This circuit isdescribed in detail in our aforesaid copending application Serial No.361,044.

Generally described, the system includes a source of hydraulic'pressuresuch as a pump, a vented type relief valve which either bypasses thesupply of fluid' or directs it through the system for shifting gears andfor driving the hydraulic feed motor. The delivery of fluid iscontrolled manually through a clutch which either directs it to the feeddrive, at the time the clutch is connected for forward or reverse, ordelivers it to the gear-shifting control valve of the present invention.when the clutch lever is in neutral. The latter delivery is alsocontrolled by a manually actuated valve at the option of the operator.In this system the operator is permitted to set the`gear-shifting valve,or preselect a given speed while the spindle is rotating at a differentspeed. The speed may be preselected prior to completion of the shift.Actual shifting is accomplished subaaoaees sequently when the clutchlever is in a neutral position andthe manually operated valve is heldopen. The apparatus is arranged to deliver low pressure fluid forshifting purposes and high pressure fluid for actuating the hydraulicfeed motor.

As shown in the drawings, fluid is drawn from the reservoir 44'to a pump58 which may be driven in unison with the spindle transmission. The

. 61 is arranged to operate automatically. It is con-- pump delivers uidthrough a pipe-| to a relief valve 52 of the vented type. This valveincludes a .casing 53 and a valve element 54 operating within a chamber55. The valve element includes a 'stem 56 which is arranged to seat overan exhaust opening 51 from which a pipe 58 leads back to the sump 55. Acompression spring I59 housed within the casing 52 at the other side ofthe valve elementurges the stem 56 against the exhaust opening.

A main delivery pipe 68 extends from the cham ber 55 to a main controlvalve 6| which is actuated by a clutch lever 62. Normally, some of thefluid from the pump 50 is delivered through the pipe 5| into the chamber55 and out through the i exhaust or bypass 58; when the valve 2| isclosed a gear-shifting or hydraulic motor actuating pressure builds upin the casing. In orderv to permit the spring 59 to be eii'ective forclosing oft the bypass opening the valve element 54 is vented as at 63,permitting iluid to pass through the valve element to the chamber 64above it. The chamber 64 is connected to either one of two unloadervalves 65 and 66 which respectively unload 4in a high .pressure range,e. g., 500-600 pounds per square inch, anda low pressure range, e. g..125-1'15 pounds per square inch. An automatic control valve 61 controlsthe connection of the chamber 64 to the respective unloading valves. Thechamber 64 is relieved therefor at the pressures at which valves 65 and66 are set to unload and this permits pumping pressure to hold valve 2|away from its exhaust seat.

The main delivery pi-pe 60 extends to the lever control valve 6| While apipe 68 extends from this valve to a manually operated control valve 69which in turn is connected to the inlet 49 of the selector valve of thepresent invention by means of a pipe 10. From the selector valve fluidis dis,

tributed as directed by the control passages of the valve, as previouslydescribed, to the respective gear-shifting moto-rs, one of which isindicated at 1|.

The main clutch lever 62 is connected with a valve element 12 of valve6| by means of a link. The delivery line 60 to this valve is branched at13 for delivering fluid into the bore of the valve 6| over anintermediate portion of its length, while the valve element 12 includesan annular circumferential groove 14 corresponding to the spacing of theinlet openings. The pipe 68 extends from the bore intermediate the inletopenings. From this construction it will be seen that through anintermediate portion of the swing of the clutch lever, representing theneutral position, the valve may be moved without disturbing 'the flowthrough the manual control valve 69 15; in either of these positions thegear-shifting mechanism is deprived of fluid.

To provide for shifting of the gears-with low pressure fluid and fordriving the hydraulic motor 16 at high pressure the pressure controlvalve nected with the delivery line 68 through a line 18. This valve 61includes a valve element 19 which is shuttled back and forth between twopositions. Fluid above the valve element 54 of the relief valve 52 maypass through line 86 through an annular groove 8| cut in the shuttlevalve 'element 19 and back to the'low pressure unloader valve 66 throughthe line 8|. The unloader valves 65 and 66 are duplicates except forweight and tension of their respective unloadersprings 82. These valvesin each case consist of a needle type valve element 83 which is normallyurged downwardly by means of spring 82 to block the ilow of fluidthrough a b ore. The tension of the springs is adjustable through setscrews an in each case the respective pipes 85 exhaust ilu to the sump44 when the valves unload. y

As the valve element 12 of the main control valve 6| is moved to a feeddrive position the supply of fluid to shuttle valve61 is cut off and thespring 86 thereof moves the valve element downwardly to block the flowof oil to the unloader valve 66. At this time the only point at whichpressure may be relieved in the system is at thc high pressure valve 65except for the bleeding of a small amount of iiuid to the sump from thelower portion of the bore of the automatic valve 61 which is necessaryto permit return of the element thereof. This bleeding does notinterfere with the normal operation of the system. Under thesecircumstances therefore oil at high pressure is delivered to thethrottle valve 11.

The manual shifting control valve 69 consists of a casing81 in which avalve element 88 is slidably mounted. The valve element externally ofthe casing includes an annular groove engaged by a lift pin extendingfrom a controllever 89 which is journalled in the headstock casing. Atthe other end of the valve element it carries a return spring 98. Thevalve normally is closed and constitutes a stop between the lines 68 and10 but, when the handle 89 is rotated, the valve is lifted and oil isfree to flow from the line 68 to the line' 10 and to the selector valve.

In the typical system which is shown in the drawings the gearshifting'device 1| consists of a .cylinder 9| and a plunger 92, theouter end of which carries a yoke 93 engaged with a convenf tionalgroove of a coupling element which, in one position, couples a shaft 94with a gear 95 or, in the other position, couples the shaft with a gear96. In the structure shown the shifting plunger has its upper endcommunicating with an outlet groove 43 of the selector valve by means ofa pipe 96, while the opposite end of the cylinder is charged through apipe 98 communicating with the charging groove 42. Various shiftingVmotors 1| are employed to perform the various shifts required to obtainthe different speeds or different functions as the case may be, thelongitudinal dead-ended slots of the selector valve determining betweenthem, by their arrangement, the various sequences desired.

This system also may include a lock-out circuit including the line 99and a lock-'out actuator |86 which operates a feed clutch element v||l|-of the tap lead transmission for the purpose of insuring that anoperator may not engage the positive tap feed while the spindle isoperating at a high speed range. This portion of the circuit isdescribed in detail in the aforesaid copending application and istherefore not repeated here.

The selector valve of the present invention provides a small and compactunit which may be embodied directly in a transmission casing or the likein a most accessible position. The particular selector valve shown inthe drawings accommodates sixty-four different shifting motors oracttators like the motor 'll and, by varying the Geneva gear ratio of itor 4by employing three or four elements corresponding to the elements 3and of hydraulic gear shifting devices, comprising a valve casing,rotary valve elements contained Within said casing in end to endrelationship and independently rotatable therein, uid inlets and Iiuidoutlets to said valve elements through said casing, one of said elementshaving fluid passageways for directing fluid pressure to major gearchange shifting devices and the other of said elements havingpassageways therein for 4 of the valve and suitable Geneva motions foroperating them in predetermined cyclic relation, still greater numbersof pressure actuated devices may be selectively controlled.

Having described our invention, we claim:

l. A selector valve, comprising a casing, valve elements rotatablymounted in said casing and disposed end to end, means for rotatablysetting said valves, said means directly rotating one element, Genevagear means for intermittently rotating the other valve, said Geneva gearmeans connected to said setting means and adapted to rotate the lattervalve to diierent positions, one for each rotation of the rst valveelement.

2. A selector valve for distributing fluid for gear shifting purposes,comprising a cylindrical casing including a bore, a pair of rotatablevalve elements rotatably mounted in said bore,V said valve elementsdisposed end to end on the same axis, said valve elements and casingincluding cooperating grooves and ports, means rotating one of saidvalve elements, and means for rotating the other valve element through aportion of its rotation each time the ilrst valve element is rotatedthrough 360.

3. A valve for directing oil pressure to a system of hydraulic gearshifting devices, comprising a valve casing housing two rotary valveelements abutting end to end, appropriate oil inlets and oil outlets tothe rotary valve elementsthrough said casing, appropriate oil grooves inone of said rotary elements for directing oil pressure to the major gearchange shifting devices, and appropriate oil grooves in the other ofsaid rotary elements for directing oil pressure to the minor gear changeshifting devices, and indexing means for moving the major gear changevalve element through a portion of a revolution while the minor gearchange valve element is completely revolved.

4. A valve for directing oil pressure to a system of hydraulic gearshifting devices, comprising a valve casing, rotary valve elementscontained within said casing in end to end relationship andindependently rotatable therein, fluid inlets and iluid outlets to saidvalve elements through said casing, one of said elements having uidpassageways for directing fluid pressure to major gear change shiftingdevices and the other of said elements having iluid passageways thereinfor directing uid pressure to minor gear change shifting devices, and anindexing mechanism for rotating the major gear change valve elementthrough a portion of a revolution whenthe minor gear change valveelement is rotated through a complete revolution.

5. A valve for directing oil pressure to a. system directing fluidpressure to minor gear change shifting devices, means for rotating oneof said elements, and an indexing mechanism operable in unison with saidmeans for rotating the other of the elements through a portion of arevolution only, thereby the first-named element repeats its position apredetermined number of times while the second-named element is beingdriven through a single revolution.

6. A valve for directing oil pressure to a system of hydraulic gearshifting devices, comprising a valve casing having a longitudinal boretherein, a distribution passageway arranged adjacent the bore and inletopenings extending from the clistribution passageway to the bore, valveelements contained Within said casing in end to end relationship, one ofsaid elements having channel- Ways for receiving uid from saiddistribution passageway and arranged for directing uid pressure to majorgear change shifting devices selectively upon rotation thereof, and theother of said elements having channelways therein for receiving fluidfrom said distribution passageway and arranged for directing fluidpressure selectively to minor gear change shifting devices, means forrotating the rst-named of said elements whereby maior gear changeshifting is effected, and means including an indexing mechanism forrotating the other devices at a predetermined ratio with respect torotation of the rst whereby said second-named valve element is drivenrepetitively through an number of revolutions when the valve element forcontrolling major gear change shifts is rotated through a singlerevolution.

"1. A valve for directing oil pressure to a system of hydraulic gearshifting devices, comprising a valve casing having a longitudinal boretherein, rotary valve elements contained within said bore in end to endrelationship, fluid inlets and fluid outlets to said passageways throughsaid casing, with one of said elements having fluid passageways fordirecting uid pressure to major gear change shifting devices and theother of said elements having fluid passageways therein for directinguid pressure to minor gear change shifting devices, a gear carried byone of said elements, a shaft carried by said casing and having a gearmeshing with said ilrst-named gear, the other of said elements having aGeneva wheel and the opposite end of said shaft having a member fordriving said Geneva gear, whereby said valve elements are rotateddifferentially with respect to one another, and detent means for holdingsaid elements in given positions of rotation.

CARL E, LINDEN. RAYMOND H. MCCLELLAN.

